


Vegan Paella

by JoyHeart



Category: Dungeons and Daddies (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Compliant, Cooking, F/M, I think so anyway, Pre-Canon, Wedding, non-spanish person talking about spanish stuff so, pre-lark and sparrow, prompt for cooking fun with henry and mercedes, this was a flash-fiction prompt i tried anyway, will probably get shit wrong but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28054719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyHeart/pseuds/JoyHeart
Summary: Mercedes Garcia hadn't always been strictly vegan, and Henry hadn't always been able to control his temper that well. However, together, they were able to overcome anything, even a mother's culinary judgement.
Relationships: Henry Oak/Mercedes Oak-Garcia
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	Vegan Paella

**Author's Note:**

> Filling a prompt from my discord for "Henry and Mercedes having a good old time whilst making dinner."
> 
> I just... this is what happened idk I wrote and edited it in like 2 hours but I tried.

**Vegan Paella**

Mercedes wasn’t _strictly_ vegan before she met Henry Oak. She came from a big Spanish family, and while vegetables and rice were always plentiful, seafood and meats were always a big part of the diet in that house. She had been curious about veganism of course, more than a few of her previous girlfriends had been vegetarian or vegan to some extent, but even though Mercedes would often cut down on the meat in her personal life, when she went to her abuella’s house on holidays she would bury her personal thoughts on the matter and eat whatever was put in front of her. When they sent her home with leftovers, being a poor college student, she had eaten them regardless of what they were.

She had offered, on occasion, to try cooking for the family so they could try some of her vegan and vegetarian recipes. Unfortunately that had never been received well. Even when her mother would give up her stove for Mercedes to cook a meat-free lunch, she was often hit with a stony silence as her family ate, and when Mercedes would ask her mother what was wrong she had smiled, shook her head, and gently told her daughter that it was _fine_ that her food lacked full flavour, it was simply impossible to make a meal without meat that was going to measure up to a ‘real Spanish dinner’.

Eventually, it got to be too much and Mercedes had simply given up trying. Her family had ‘their way’ and she would just go along with it when she had to. She didn’t live with them anymore, she could still avoid meat most of the time.

Then she found Henry, lost and alone in the woods. Fuzzy memories of his past and in need of so much love and support. She had welcomed him into her home and fallen in love with him almost immediately. He was steadfast and courageous, while still soft and innocent about so many things. She would teach him how to find cute cat pictures on the internet and remembered fondly when he had visited her at her internship at the radio station, only to be carried out by security when one of her coworkers had apparently confirmed she was there by saying “Oh yeah, the giant with the fat tits” and Henry had immediately knocked him to the ground and twisted his arm behind him while reciting word-for-word the paper she had asked him to edit for her women and gender studies class. She couldn’t _not_ seduce him after that one.

Henry Oak was the perfect man for Mercedes, and he was also absolutely 100% unwavering on the idea that eating animals and their by-products was wrong no matter the circumstance.

It had been a point of contention between the two of them early in their relationship. Mercedes would say she agreed with the core tenants of veganism, because she did. But when Henry would express visual and audible disgust with those eating meat in restaurants or on the street, when he would cringe away even at a poster advertising for McDonalds hamburgers, Mercedes would sometimes get fed up and tell him to get over it. And Henry would more often than not snap at her, and once or twice that blew up into a public argument.

Then later Henry would feel bad and ask Mercedes to, ah, punish him how she saw fit for losing his temper. It was… satisfying, she had to admit. However, after one particularly rough incident at the park where Henry had loudly claimed someone was a bad father for buying his son a hot dog, Mercedes had forced him aside and had a very long talk with him about how he needed to pick his battles, and that getting a bloody nose wasn’t going to stop people from buying a cheap meal for their kid at the park. She explained at length the concept of differing economic backgrounds, and how that factored into whether someone could afford to eat vegan in the modern world. She even admitted that she had been forced to eat meat before her radio job for long periods of time out of necessity.

Henry had looked shocked at the admission, but that conversation was enough to get him to stop lashing out at random innocent people on the street.

It was not, however, enough to stop him from going rudely silent when Mercedes had taken him to her abuella’s for her mother’s birthday and found that her abuella had not exactly provided a vegetarian option. Though really, Mercedes should have expected as much. She hadn’t really told her family much about her new boyfriend to that point beyond saying he existed, and this visit was meant as a test run as to how well he might be received, but it was already off to a bad start and Mercedes quickly began to regret everything.

Her abuella had cooked her famous seafood paella, her mother’s favourite, and though Mercedes pleaded with Henry to just pick the bits of crab and shrimp out and eat the rice he hadn’t eaten a bite. When Mercedes reached over to stir her plate around a bit so it would look like he ate some he had even looked _betrayed_.

Eventually Mercedes had just made the excuse that Henry was feeling sick and had ushered him outside to sit in her car and have what Mercedes now referred to as ‘the big fight’. Henry had first told Mercedes her abuella was being intentionally rude to have not provided a vegan option. Then Mercedes had to admit that she hadn’t actually told her family that Henry was vegan. Just like she hadn’t exactly told them where she had found him yet or much else beyond that he was studying geology. (‘Studying’ was a bit of a stretch. He got interested in it and was reading every book and internet article he could find on it and when Mercedes had gotten him a year-pass to the local museum he started going so often that he was giving other visitors unofficial and possibly unwelcome ‘tours’. If he kept that up they might even hire him, she thought.)

Then Henry had realised that Mercedes was, to some extent, embarrassed by him, and he had gotten out of the car and walked angrily down the street for about three miles in a light rain with Mercedes following him in the car, tears running down her face and hoping he would forgive her.

He had. Eventually he had stopped walking. Mercedes parked next to him, jumped out of the car with it still running, and they had hugged and both had sobbed and apologized. Henry had said he knew it was hard for her, that Henry had turned her world upside down and wasn’t as helpful around her apartment as he should be, and she shouldn’t feel forced to tell her family more than she felt comfortable with. Mercedes had said no, she was sorry for being too afraid of her family’s opinions to even let them know to cook something her boyfriend would feel comfortable eating.

They made up, Mercedes had taken them back to her abuella’s house, and she sat everyone down to tell them the real story of how she and Henry met. Her abuella looked about ready to faint at the idea that she was solely supporting this man who hadn’t even been to a formal school. Her parents had taken it a little better. It ended with her father offering to give Henry driving lessons so… maybe she shouldn’t have been quite so afraid. It was awkward, yes, but she could handle some awkwardness for Henry’s sake. Her wonderful, messy, ferociously protective lion deserved someone unashamed to give him the support and love he needs. She would never show shame in the love and support of Henry again.

Years later, Mercedes’ radio station was doing well and Henry had, somehow, been hired on by the museum he frequented. (He barely made over minimum wage but he was so enthusiastic over having a job at all that Mercedes let him think he was paying half her rent). They had put enough money away to afford a wedding, and that had led to a very important conversation.

What to feed people at the reception.

The guest list was relatively intimate. Mercedes’ family of course, and Henry’s coworkers from the museum, folks from the radio station, a few neighbours. Of those, precious few were vegan or even vegetarian.

Henry had stared at the guest list for a long time before asking Mercedes if they should provide a meat option. Mercedes’ heart beat so fast when he said it. He didn’t sound mad or disgusted, he just looked at her so innocently asking her opinion, trusting that she would know better what would be socially acceptable.

“My lion,” Mercedes said carefully, “It is our wedding, and I think if anything, this is a marvelous opportunity to show off the appeal of well-made vegan dishes.”

Henry had lit up like the sun, and within moments after that decision was made the two of them had crowded around Mercedes’ computer to look for vegan Spanish dishes they could experiment with to find the very _best_. Something to show all the meat-eaters just how much fresh ingredients and well-chosen seasonings could do!

Their first experiment was a vegan fabada, a Spanish bean stew. It was a bit more watery than they wanted, but by the third attempt they at least got a good spice ratio, even if it meant taking out the potatoes, flavour-suckers that they are. That left the soup less dense though, and eventually Mercedes gave up, telling Henry that her family weren’t huge soup-fans anyway.

The second experiment was pisto, a vegetable stew. This one turned out much better, and Mercedes even mentioned that her abuella would occasionally make it for lunch when she was growing up, so it would probably be well-received. They added it to their potential menu, though Mercedes felt a tinge of guilt as she reflected it was lucky her abuella had passed the previous year. Nothing served would have passed her stern judgement, she was sure.

So it went, trying dish after dish over the course of that Saturday. The kitchen was a mess by the end of the evening, and Mercedes had laughed, flicking bit of sauce at Henry’s back as he tried to wash some of the piling dishes. When their fridge got too full of leftovers, they had taken the extras out into downtown and handed them out to some of the homeless in one of the smaller tent-cities, glowing with pride over a good deed done and excited to try out some more recipes the next day. This was the most fun the two of them had had in the months since they both had begun working full time, and so rarely did their free time overlap these days.

The Sunday was another wonderful day, until in the middle of pulling together a try at a massive serving of vegan paella Mercedes stopped dead.

“What’s wrong, my lioness?” Henry had asked, immediately noticing her discomfort as she slowed her stirring of the rice.

“I… I’m not sure if we should serve this. Seafood paella is my mother’s favourite, always said abuella made it best, and I’m not sure if she would accept…” Mercedes had said slowly, biting her lip. She closed her eyes and gave a shaky sigh as she felt Henry slip in behind her, encircling her with his arms and leaning his head against her upper back. Mercedes always thought it was cute that was as high as he could reach, poor lion.

“Hey now, that’s no problem!” Henry gently pulled back and encouraged Mercedes to turn around until he could lean up to press his lips on hers in his most comforting way. “If you don’t want to serve it, we don’t have to! Our menu is so long now, we could probably feed half of San Dimas!”

Mercedes had laughed, nodding along even as Henry wiped a worried tear off her cheek. She got overwhelmed too easily, really. It was such a silly thing. “You’re right, obviously. Though we should finish this one anyway. It would be a waste of food if we didn’t!”

And so they had finished it. Given how late in the day it had gotten, they had even set two bowls of it out to give it a proper test run. Two plates practically licked clean later, they had been left staring at each other with wide eyes.

“Uh,” Henry had cleared his throat awkwardly. “My love, I know you said you don’t want to serve this but-”

“Oh no, I was wrong,” Mercedes said quickly, a cheeky grin starting to spread over her face as visions of her mother, stunned, danced in her head. “There is no way in HELL I’m not showing _this_ off. Oh and Henry, your suggestion of adding pumpkin? Stroke of genius.” She laughed, then sobered. “Wait… I just realised… did we just basically sign up to cater our own wedding?”

Henry’s face had twisted in confusion. “Uh? Why wouldn’t we cook for our own wedding…?”

Mercedes had blinked, taken Henry’s hands in her own, and hoped that he saw every facet of pity in her deep brown eyes. “I assume at the commune you grew up in, you did not have that many mouths to feed?”

“Uh, well there was I think a hundred of us, but-”

“And they were not Spanish.”

“No?”

Mercedes shook her head, her voice morose. “I’m not saying it won’t be worth it, but if we’re cooking for our own wedding… don’t expect me to walk down that whole aisle without three people holding me upright.”

Henry had finally looked suitably worried and tried to protest, insisting they could hire a caterer, but Mercedes silenced him with a wave of her hand. “None of that! We are strong, capable lions, and if we are going to convert the population into veganism, we will do it the right way! By working our hands to the bone to provide healthy, delicious vegan meals to the public, especially on our wedding day where we two shall become an unbreakable team against the carnivorous world!” She had gotten to her feet in the midst of her speech, and smiled down at her fiancée as he looked up at her in awe. “Now, help me grab the rest of the paella and heck, we’ll empty the fridge. There’s no way we’ll eat all those leftovers before they go bad anyway, let’s give it all away!”

“I love you so much,” Henry said quietly, quietly enough that Mercedes wasn’t sure he meant her to hear it. She blushed, but leaned down to press a kiss into Henry’s dirty-blonde hair.

“I love you as well, _mi Le_ _όn._ ”

*

Their wedding was beautiful. They held it outdoors in a park not far from their house, one that Henry had picked because it felt ‘welcoming’. They had set up an arch full of flowers, their family and friends had helped them set up the chairs, and their ceremony had been overly-long and full of gut-wrenching, teary speeches of declared devotion and love for one another. It was everything Mercedes could have wanted, even if they had both had to fight back yawns and both had a moment of staggering at the alter while the priest was speaking. They had been up all the night before, but it would be worth it. They knew it would.

The reception was in the field next to their make-shift church to enjoy the blue sky and fresh air. The cruelty-free wasp attractors that Henry set up hadn’t really worked, but Mercedes and Henry were too wrapped up in each other to even notice when one of Henry’s coworkers tripped over a nest and had run off into the street to escape the swarm.

When Henry and Mercedes got some of Mercedes’s coworkers to help them run back to their apartment and grab the food left in heat-retaining containers for the reception (leaving their appetizers and cake on display to tempt their guests while they were gone) they had beamed at the praise they received for how good everything looked. When they reached the park again and began bringing their dishes to the buffet table there was already a line forming.

As the steaming dishes were uncovered Mercedes held her breath, and Henry put an arm around her waist so she could feel his own sweaty hand against her. This was the moment of truth.

“If they say anything, that’s just their own internalized bias. We know how good everything is,” Henry whispered up at her, and Mercedes had nodded minutely.

There were a few mumbles as guests filed by with their bio-degradable paper plates. Mainly from more distant cousins, but a couple from aunts and uncles. No lamb, no beef, not even chicken, where’s the shrimp? Mercedes shivered as she clocked more than one pair of eyes glancing her way in judgement.

“Wait till they taste it!” Henry had soothed. Mercedes nodded. Of those already eating, no one seemed upset just yet. However, Mercedes did keep eyeing the head table (the only picnic table, most were sitting on blankets on the ground but they had a table for the more elderly guests), where her mother was clearly eyeing her plate with some skepticism.

She took a forkful of the pisto. She huffed and whispered something to her father. Mercedes groaned softly as Henry announced he was going to get plates for both of them and hurried to join the line.

Mercedes watched her mother take a bite of the vegan paella. She closed her eyes, chewing for a moment, and then her eyes flew open and immediately searched the crowd. She spotted Mercedes in seconds and made eye contact. She pointed at her, pointed at the paella on her plate and gave her a huge thumbs up before getting another, notably larger bite.

Mercedes loved her new husband, and was so happy to remember that day as the day they joined themselves at the hip and heart to face the world together.

But deep down… though she would never tell Henry… watching her mother enjoy her vegan paella as though it came straight from abuella’s stovetop was the brightest part of the day.


End file.
